


Something Different About Her

by ThatGayRavenclaw



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-02 13:57:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2814455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatGayRavenclaw/pseuds/ThatGayRavenclaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura is a sixth year Hufflepuff who is paired with a mysterious Slytherin girl named Carmilla in Care of Magical Creatures class.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Exciting Studies of Knarls and Hedgehogs

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in a while and this is my first Carmilla fic! If people like this I will definitely continue it.

Laura could not tell if she was more nervous or excited for her first Care of Magical Creatures class at Hogwarts. She was just starting her sixth year and had heard plenty of rumors about the class. Hagrid had been the professor, but this year it was rumored that he was replaced. Hagrid was apparently going away to help with the Dragons at a magical creatures rehabilitation center.

Laura was walking down the hill to the woods when she saw a mass of green robes heading to the same location. 

“Great, now I have to put up with Slytherin as well as the possibility of being eaten by a giant beast.” She thought to herself. 

She wasn’t sure which one was worse. It’s not that she hated Slytherin. She was a Hufflepuff, and that meant trying to find the best in people. Even so, she had to admit that Slytherin had certain qualities about them that she was not quite fond of.  

Reaching the clearing that class was held at, she quickly found other Hufflepuff friends to stand with. She sighed in relief that she was in the class with two of her closest friends, Lola Perry and Lafontaine. 

There was a slight murmuring about being stuck in the class with Slytherin, but nothing very rude. The Slytherin, on the other hand, were quick to make not so quiet comments regarding the other house.

“Settle down everyone!” A woman said appearing between the two groups of students. “I understand that there might be some hesitance over the fact that we have two houses in this class, but I hope to see you all on your best behaviors!”

It was then that Laura noticed a girl on the outskirts or the Slytherin group. She had black hair partially covering her face and was leaning against the tree giving off an “I don’t care” vibe while she tapped her wand against her hand. She looked like she would rather be anywhere but there.

“My name is Professor Lawrence and I will be taking over for Hagrid.” The new professor said, snapping Laura out of looking at the mysterious girl.

Lafontaine must have noticed her staring because they quickly poked her in the side. “What’s got you all transfixed?” Laf asked teasingly.

“What? Oh, umm it was nothing!” Laura replied a little too quickly.

She wasn’t sure why she lied, but she was still glancing back at the Slytherin girl. There was just something about her that made Laura want to figure her out.

At that moment the girl looked up and met Laura’s eyes. Her eyes were strikingly dark and sent shivers down Laura’s spine. Laura ducked her head to stare intensely at the ground, her cheeks starting to blush. When she looked back up the girl was still staring at her. 

“Okay everyone before we get started with today’s magical beast, you need to get your partners for the rest of the year!” Professor Lawrence said. “ Because you all are in your sixth year I’m assuming that you can handle picking your own partners!” She said excitingly.

 At that moment there was a rush of people going to their friends to claim their partners. Laura looked at Laf and Perry and they just gave her an apologetic look. Laf and Perry had been best friends since first year so Laura couldn’t blame them for picking each other.

She started looking around and to her dismay all of the other Hufflepuff were already paired up. She glanced nervously to the Slytherin side, but all of them seemed to have partners. 

She then noticed the Slytherin girl from before walking toward her with an unreadable expression on her face.

  “Looks like it’s you and me cutie.” The girl said with a smirk.

Laura didn’t have time to process the fact that she was now partnered with this mysterious Slytherin girl for possibly the rest of the year, because professor Lawrence called everyone together to discuss their assignment for the day.

“Okay does everyone have a partner?” Professor Lawrence said.

Laura Glanced nervously at the girl who just looked back at her with an unreadable expression. 

“Good, now for today’s lesson!” Professor Lawrence carried on “Today each group will receive a Knarl and a Hedgehog to observe! If you will notice, they look identical to each other. Your job is to use the textbook and any other resources to figure out how which one is the Knarl. Come get a cage with the animals and begin.”

She then motioned to small cages behind her that the students did not notice earlier. Laura looked at the girl who was walking towards the cages without paying attention to Laura. After grabbing a cage she walked back over to the tree she was leaning on earlier and sat down next to it. Laura followed her and sat across from her and the cage.

“So um, I guess we should start out by introducing ourselves?” Laura started awkwardly. “Well, My name is Laura and I’m in Hufflepuff, but I guess you knew that by my robes.” She cut herself off before she rambled too much.

The girl just raised an eyebrow at this but made not attempt to speak.

“So what’s your name?” Laura prodded. 

“Carmilla. Listen cutie, can we save the twenty questions of “get to know me” and just start the assignment? The sooner I can get away from these things the better.” She said with an almost dismal tone, motioning towards the hedgehog and Knarl between them.

 “Right, so we are just supposed to figure out which one is the Knarl right? That shouldn’t be too difficult” Laura said, but as she looked at the two animals she realized it might not be that simple.

Both animals looked exactly alike and were chewing on some berries placed in the corner of their cage. Laura flipped open her textbook until she found the page describing Knarls.

 Laura began to read the page aloud. “Knarls are known for their magical quills and love for wild daisies. They have been known to ravage gardens and are seen as pests by most of the wizarding world. They also have a fondness for milk.”

As she finished reading she looked at Carmilla who showed no change of expression. “Okay so they like daisies and milk? Well so will the Hedgehog so how does that help us at all?” Laura said becoming frustrated. 

At that moment Carmilla got up and went behind the tree they were sitting at. She grabbed a few berries and set them on the ground. She then picked up the two animals from the cage and set them a few feet from the berries.

One animal immediately went up to the berries and started eating them while the other looked at them suspiciously and backed away. Carmilla picked this one up, being careful to avoid the quills, and carried it up to Professor Lawrence.

“This is the Knarl” Carmilla said holding the creature up to the professor. Professor Lawrence waved her wand to reveal a hidden tag at the bottom of its foot that indicated it was the Knarl. 

“So it is! This is the fastest anyone has ever determined it, I am very proud of you two girls! How did you figure it out?”

Laura quickly looked at Carmilla hoping she would answer. “Knarls are very suspicious of any food left in front of them because they will always think it is a trap. The hedgehog ran straight to the berries though.” Carmilla said in a bored tone. “So since we figured it out, can we be dismissed?” She asked Professor Lawrence.

 “Well you have completed your assignment for the day so I guess you may. Just make sure to read chapters two and three before next class.” Professor Lawrence said to the two girls.

Carmilla turned away from professor Lawrence and Laura and grabbed her bag. She started heading back up to the castle as Laura hurried to get her stuff and catch up to her. 

“That was amazing Carmilla! How did you know how to do that with the creatures?” Laura asked, hoping to get some type of reaction from the other girl.

 Instead Carmilla just shrugged. “I like to read in my free time.”

“Wow that’s not something you usually hear a Slytherin say.” Laura chuckled. 

Immediately she regretted it though, because Carmillla’s face immediately fell.  If Carmilla felt hurt, she covered it up with an angry expression. Carmilla then looked at her with an intense scowl.

“Well I’m sorry I don’t live up to your stereotyped expectations of what I’m supposed to do in my free time.” She spat at Laura.

Carmilla turned away from the stunned girl and headed down a different path.

Laura knew she had hit a nerve, but she was too scared to try and say anything else.

“I guess next class should be interesting” she thought to herself as she headed back to the Hufflepuff dorms.

 She knew that Carmilla was different from any other Slytherin she had met. She seemed so intelligent, and yet she didn’t brag about it when the professor praised her for it. 

 Yes, there definitely was something about Carmilla, and Laura hated how much she wanted to know what exactly it was.

 


	2. Cuddly Cotton Balls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 by request! Any comments are greatly encouraged.

Laura was slumped over her textbooks in the Hufflepuff common room when she noticed Laf and Perry walking to her.

“Is that your Care of Magical Creatures book? You know that we don’t have to read those chapters until next week.” Laf said giving Laura a confused look. They had just gotten back from their class and Laura was already furiously reading the textbook.

“Yeah I know, but I have to make sure I know everything I possibly can for next class! I’m going to show Carmilla that I can hold my own.” Laura grumbled.

“I noticed you two walking back up to the castle. She must be very smart to have figured out what to do so quickly.” Perry chimed in, hoping to avoid any negative talk about the Slytherin girl.

“Yeah she definitely knows what she’s doing. I just wish she would seem so indifferent all the time. I mean she could at least pretend to care about her classwork. It was like all she wanted to do was leave so she just took over our work!” Laura exclaimed in frustration.

“Well um, I hope everything works out between you two!” Perry said, clearly getting uncomfortable with the tense conversation.

“Yeah we have potions class in a bit, so we are going to head out.” Laf said as they walked toward the door leaving the commons room. Perry quickly followed them leaving Laura by herself.

“I swear next class I am going to know everything possible about the Puffskein!” Laura said glancing at the book where picture of a small, furry ball with eyes resided on the page.

“I still don’t know what we are going to do with them though. They look like they just sit around and eat all day. They apparently also like to cuddle.” Laura said as she pondered what the assignment for the next class could be. 

 

The next week Laura was nervous as she walked down the hill to the woods for class. She was certain that she could hold her own in a discussion about the Puffskein, but she was still worried about Carmilla. 

Carmilla was already at the meeting spot, casually leaning against the same tree from last week. Laura awkwardly walked up and stood beside her, and began to shuffle her feet.

“What’s got you so nervous, cutie?” Carmilla said in a drawn out voice.

“What? Nothing, I’m fine!” Laura said defensively. She still couldn’t tell if Carmilla actually liked her, or it she just put up with her for the class. Being called cutie was a little unnerving also. 

“Whatever.” Carmilla responded, going back to her indifferent state. 

“Okay class! Gather around.” Professor Lawrence said walking into the middle of the clearing.

“If you read the chapters, then you know we are talking about Puffskeins today! These creatures are virtually harmless and docile which makes them perfect for our assignment!” Professor Lawrence said as she reached into a cage and pulled one of the yellow Puffskeins out. 

The Puffskein emitted a humming sound as professor Lawrence stroked its head. It was small and resembled an oversized yellow cotton ball. 

“Today each group will be receiving a Puffskein to take care of until next class! Class is canceled for next week so your next meeting time will be in two weeks. Now I understand this may seem like a hard task, but as you will notice the Puffskein is a very calm creature! This exercise will also allow you to get to know your partners better. As I stated last class, you will keep these partners until the end of the school year!” Professor Lawrence stated with enthusiasm.

As Laura looked around she noticed several nervous expressions. Even Carmilla looked a little on edge at the news of their new two-week project.

“Everyone come pick up your Puffskein!” Professor Lawrence said.

Carmilla made not intention of moving so Laura walked up to the cages and picked one up. The small creature looked up at Laura with big eyes. 

“Well you shouldn’t be too hard to take care of! Just as long as I can keep Carmilla from deciding to throw you out.” Laura said in a baby voice to the little creature.

She took the cage back to the tree that had become their spot. She sat the cage down in front of Carmilla and looked around at the other groups.

She noticed Laf and Perry already had theirs out cuddling it. She could already tell that would be a very spoiled animal. It wouldn’t surprise her if Perry knitted it sweaters before the two weeks were up.

Laura reached down and picked up the creature. “What should we name it?” She said to Carmilla as she began to rock it back and forth in her arms.

“Whatever your little heart desires.” Carmilla replied lazily.

Laura was still nervous about her comments she made last week, but if Carmilla was still angry she showed no signs of it. Laura decided it was best not to bring it up.

“Well um, here. Why don’t you hold it?” Laura said pushing the fluff ball towards Carmilla. 

Carmilla immediately backed away with a look of disgust on her face.

“I think I’ll just let you stick to the babysitting.” Carmilla responded, as if getting to close to anything that cute would make her spontaneously combust.

At that moment Professor Lawrence walked over to hand them the papers they would have to fill out for their Puffskein. Laura was shocked to notice how thick the stack of papers was. 

“I am expecting you and your partner to document at least one hour of your Puffskein’s day, every day until the two weeks is up. Think of it like a diary entry that shows what it did that day, what it ate, etcetera.” Professor Lawrence explained as she finished passing out the papers. “You need to document one hour today, but you can do it outside of class if you would like. You are dismissed as soon as you get your papers.”

“Okay look cutie, I’m not thrilled for this project because it involves little to no brain power. I don’t really enjoy babysitting cotton balls for a grade but I’m not going to let you somehow screw it up either. I have some Dark Arts homework I really need to finish so can we just document our thing later tonight?” Carmilla said to Laura.

Laura was pretty sure that was the most she had ever spoken to her. She still wasn’t sure what the whole cutie thing was about. Carmilla had probably forgotten her name and couldn’t bother to ask what it was. 

“Sure, we can meet in the library if you want. How about at six?” Laura asked, hoping she would get a decent reply from the Slytherin girl.

“See you then cutie. Oh, and you can keep the fur ball until then.” Carmilla said as she got up to leave.

Giving up on any chance of a normal conversation, Laura headed back up to the castle with the Puffskein. She decided she would just play with the adorable fur ball and do some homework while she waited for her meeting with Carmilla that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Shameless plug* useless-lesbian-vampire-cat on tumblr :)


	3. Making Progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a short (somewhat filler) chapter because I haven't updated recently. I promise the next one will be longer!

Laura walked into the Library and began to look for Carmilla. She finally found the girl in an empty spot at the very back. Carmilla hadn’t seen Laura yet and Laura stopped to look at the Slytherin girl.

Carmilla was sitting in a chair with her feet propped up on the table. She was reading what looked to be a book in some language Laura didn’t recognize and she was wearing black-rimmed glasses. Carmilla seemed like a different person completely lost in her book.

The Puffskein started making a loud humming noise, apparently angry that it wasn’t the center of Laura’s attention.

Carmilla jerked up but started to relax when she saw what the noise came from. She pulled off her glasses and looked up at Laura, who finally snapped out of her transfixion.

“Hey cupcake, how long have you been standing there?” Carmilla said smirking. 

“Just got here! So, what book are you reading?” Laura asked quickly diverting the subject and trying to hide her blush.

“Oh just a book about Alchemy, Alchemical Duodecimo.” Carmilla replied nonchalantly.

“That doesn’t even look like English though.” Laura said pointing at the symbols on the cover page.

“Yeah it’s Latin.” Carmilla replied as if it were no big deal.

“So what all do we have to do with the fuzz ball tonight?” Carmilla asked making a slight grimace at the Puffskein in its cage.

“Well, We need to name it first. And then document its behavior for about an hour. I borrowed some cat toys from a girl in my house so we could play with it or something.” Laura said setting the creature down on the table between them.

“So what are you naming it?” Carmilla said as she flipped the page of her book.

“Well, I think a name is a very serious thing, so we should see how his personality is first.” Laura said pointedly to Carmilla. 

When Carmilla made no point of participating Laura sighed and picked up a small ball with a string attached. She dragged it around the table as the creature hopped excitedly after it. 

About thirty minutes passed and Laura had documented quite a bit of information. Carmilla was still reading her book, but Laura was having too much fun playing with the creature to care about her partner’s lack of participation. Finally Laura broke the silence.

“Hey Carm, I have to use the restroom. Are you going to be okay with the little guy for a few minutes?” 

Carmilla looked up when she heard the impromptu nickname. She thought about it, but decided to let it pass.

“I think I can manage the fur ball for five minutes without destroying my sanity.” Carmilla responded as she set down her book.

Once Laura was out of sight Carmilla actually paid attention to the Puffskein. He was nibbling on some food Laura brought for him. Carmilla tentatively reached out and rubbed his head. He immediately stopped eating and looked up at the girl.

“I guess you’re not that bad.” Carmilla said quietly. “Maybe even kind of cute.” She said in an almost whisper.

She was still absent-mindedly petting the creature when Laura came back.

Laura stopped for a moment to look at the sight before her. Carmilla was still reading her book with one hand, but the other was stroking the Puffskein. She could hear small humming noises, and she realized that Carmilla was humming along with the Puffskein. She almost didn’t want to interrupt them because they looked so peaceful.

“Um hey, I’m back.” Laura said quietly as she approached them.

Carmilla’s eyes shot up to Laura’s. Her hand retracted from the creature as if he had burned her.

Laura sat down and looked at her papers. “So I think all we have to do is name him and we will be done for today.” She said to Carmilla.

“Cadence.” 

“What?” Laura said, unsure if she heard Carmilla correctly.

“Cadence.” Carmilla repeated. “It’s Latin for rhythm. I mean, he hums all the time so I thought maybe something musical.” Carmilla said looking down. 

“I think it’s perfect!” Laura said as she wrote his name down on their paper. She noticed Carmilla give a slight grin.   
“So I can take him for the night. I guess I will see you tomorrow?” Laura said to Carmilla.

“Same time, same place cutie.” Carmilla said picking up her book. “Um, bye Cadence” She said as she awkwardly pet him on the head.

Laura tried to hold back a smile as they went their separate ways.


End file.
